Aaron Rodgers to Retire After 2026 Season, Concluding Storied 22-Year Career

Aaron Rodgers swan song: Steelers QB says he will retire after 2026 season, ending 22-year career

The four-time NFL MVP and future Hall of Famer will turn 43 years old in December

By Garrett Podell

May 20, 2026 at 3:16 pm ET • 2 min read

- - -

The 2026 NFL offseason will be the last one that will require an " Aaron Rodgers watch." Rodgers announced on Wednesday at the Pittsburgh Steelers ' organized team activities (OTAs) that the 2026 season will be his last in the NFL, making the coming year his retirement tour.

"Yes. This is it," Rodgers said, via ESPN , when asked if 2026 would be his last NFL season.

Rodgers will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history after his retirement at the conclusion of the 2026 NFL season. He is the sport's all-time leader in touchdown-to-interception ratio (4.3, 527-123) and passer rating (102.2) while entering 2026 as fourth all time in passing touchdowns with 527. Rodgers' four NFL MVPs are the second-most in league history behind only Peyton Manning's five, and he earned both a Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP by winning Super XLV for the Green Bay Packers in a triumphant effort against the Steelers.

It makes sense that Rodgers is choosing to walk away after the coming year. He simply doesn't have the same magic that made him one of the league's best to ever do it. One of his top strengths throughout his future Hall of Fame career is his ability to scramble and dance around in and outside of the pocket to create throwing lanes and big plays. However with limited mobility in his 40s, the magic is slipping away. On third downs in 2025, Rodgers surrendered a sack rate of 10.7%, the 10th-highest in the entire NFL.

In no game was that more apparent than his last played in the 2025 AFC wild card round. In a 30-6 home loss against the Houston Texans , who have the best pass-rush duo in football in Will Anderson Jr . and Danielle Hunter , he took four sacks, tossed an interception and fumbled twice, one of which resulted in a turnover. When he turns 43 years old on Dec. 2, he'll become the sixth quarterback in NFL history to start a game at the age of 43 or older.

Rodgers chose to come back to both football and the Steelers in 2026 to finish out his career with new Pittsburgh head coach Mike McCarthy, his head coach of 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2006-2018). Their reunion will make them the first quarterback-head coach duo to win a Super Bowl together before joining forces again on a new team.

"I thought that was probably it for me in Pittsburgh. But when the decision was made to hire Mike, I started opening my mind back up to coming back," Rodgers said, via ESPN . ... "There is a full aspect circle that piqued my interest of coming back."

Join the Conversation comments

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-steelers-qb-retiring-after-2026-season/)._